The present invention relates generally to plastic fasteners and more particularly to devices used in the dispensing of plastic fasteners.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,078 to A. R. Bone, which is incorporated herein by reference, there are disclosed several different types of plastic fasteners, or attachments, which are fabricated as part of continuously connected ladder stock. In each instance, the fastener has an H-shape, and the ladder stock is formed from two elongated and continuous plastic side members coupled together by a plurality of plastic cross links, the cross links preferably being equidistantly spaced. The stock may be produced from flexible plastics material including nylon, polypropylene and other similar materials by molding or by stamping.
Either manually or with the aid of specifically designed devices, individual fasteners may be dispensed from the ladder stock to couple buttons to fabric, merchandising tags to articles of commerce, or, in general, any two desired articles. In those instances where the individual fasteners are dispensed from a device having two needles, the attachments severed from the remainder of the ladder stock can be used like staples to secure multiple items together. As a result, attachments severed from the remainder of the ladder stock which are dispensed from a device having dual needles are commonly referred to simply as plastic staples in the art.
In commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,816 to C. L. Deschenes et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, there is disclosed an apparatus for dispensing attachments from continuously connected ladder stock of the type comprising a pair of plastic side members coupled together by a plurality of plastic cross links. The apparatus includes a mount, a support movably mounted on the mount, and a pair of carrier blocks mounted on the support. A needle block is mounted on each carrier block and a hollow, slotted needle is mounted on each needle block. A feed mechanism including a pair of feed wheels, is mounted on the support for advancing the ladder stock into the hollow slotted needles and a pair feed tracks, one for each hollow slotted needle, are provided through which the ladder stock passes from the feed wheels into the pair of hollow slotted needles. A pair of knives are provided for severing an attachment from the ladder stock, and a pair of ejector rods are provided for ejecting the severed attachment through the hollow slotted needles. The carrier blocks are disposed parallel to each other and movable sideways relative to each other so that the spacing between the hollow slotted needles can be changed for different applications. The feed wheels are disposed parallel to each other and are capable of being moved sideways relative to each other so that their spacing can be changed to accommodate different widths of ladder stock. In order to provide a path for the ladder stock form the feed wheels to the hollow slotted needles for different feed wheel spacings and/or needle spacings, each feed track assembly includes a pivotally mounted section.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,816 to C. L. Deschenes et al. is well known and is commonly referred to in the art simply as a variable needle system (VNS). Variable needle systems of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,816 are commonly used in the art to secure a product for sale, such as a toy, hardware item or houseware item, onto a display card using one or more staples.
Although well known and widely used in the art for dispensing plastic staples, most conventional dual needle, plastic staple dispensing devices suffer from a notable drawback. Specifically, it has been found that most conventional dual needle, plastic staple dispensing devices are considerably large in size and complex in construction. As a result, most conventional dual needle, plastic staple dispensing devices are fixedly mounted on a flat work surface, such as a bench.
As can be appreciated, there is a distinct need in the art for a dual needle, plastic staple dispensing device which can be hand-held by the operator during use.
Accordingly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,076 to D. L. Bourque, there is disclosed a hand-held apparatus for dispensing attachments. During use of the hand-held apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,076, the attachments are fed from a continuous roll of stock into position where an individual attachment is separated from the stock. Thereafter, the stock and the separated attachment are advanced so that the attachment enters a movable slide and the stock occupies the prior position of the severed attachment. The slide is then moved with respect to one or more output needles so that a plunger may force the attachment from the slide through the needles and dispense it into the material with which the attachment is being used.
The hand-held apparatus for dispensing plastic staples disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,076 suffers from a couple notable drawbacks. Specifically, the hand-held apparatus for dispensing plastic staples disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,076 is considerably complex in construction and unreliable in performance, which is highly undesirable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved device for dispensing a plastic fastener from a reel of fastener stock to couple together two or more items.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device as described above which includes at a pair of hollowed needles, each needle having a sharpened tip, wherein the pair of hollowed needles enable the plastic staple to pass through the items to be coupled together.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a device as described above which can be handheld by the operator.
It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide a device as described above which is reliable.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a device as described above which has a limited number of parts, which is easy to use and which is inexpensive to manufacture.
Accordingly, as one feature of the present invention, there is provided a device for dispensing an individual plastic fastener from a supply of fastener stock to couple together two or more objects, the individual plastic fastener comprising a flexible filament and a transversely disposed cross-bar at one end, said device comprising a housing, an ejection mechanism for dispensing the individual plastic fastener, a severing mechanism for separating the individual plastic fastener from the remainder of the supply of fastener stock, and an indexing mechanism for advancing the supply of fastener stock into said housing, said indexing mechanism comprising, a feed slide adapted to engage and advance the supply of fastener stock, and a pivotally mounted feed dog for selectively contacting and urging said feed slide.
As another feature of the present invention, there is provided a device for dispensing an individual plastic fastener from a supply of fastener stock to couple together two or more objects, the individual plastic fastener comprising a flexible filament and a transversely disposed cross-bar at one end, said device comprising a housing, an ejection mechanism for dispensing the individual plastic fastener, a severing mechanism for separating the individual plastic fastener from the remainder of the supply of fastener stock, and an indexing mechanism for advancing the supply of fastener stock into said housing, said indexing mechanism comprising, a feed slide slidably disposed within said housing, said feed slide comprising a spring arm which is adapted to selectively engage and advance the supply of fastener stock, and a pivotally mounted feed dog for displacing said feed slide.
As another feature of the present invention, there is provided device for dispensing an individual plastic fastener from a supply of fastener stock to couple together two or more objects, the individual plastic fastener comprising a flexible filament and a transversely disposed cross-bar at one end, said device comprising a housing, said housing being shaped to define a ejector rod slide guide channel, an ejection mechanism for dispensing the individual plastic fastener, said ejection mechanism comprising, a hollow needle having a sharpened tip and an elongated bore, an ejector rod slide adapted for lateral displacement within the ejector rod slide guide channel in said housing, an ejector rod mounted onto said ejector rod slide, said ejector rod being adapted to selectively protrude into the elongated bore of said hollow needle to eject the cross-bar of the individual plastic fastener out through said hollow needle, and an actuator pin fixedly mounted onto said ejector rod slide, a severing mechanism for separating the individual plastic fastener from the remainder of the supply of fastener stock, and an indexing mechanism for advancing the cross-bar of the individual plastic fastener into alignment with the elongated bore of the hollow needle.
Various other features and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration, a specific embodiment for practicing the invention. This embodiment will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The following detailed description is therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims.